This
is an encyclopaedic panorama of Korean
music: there's no equivalent in the
English language. On these terms, it
will be an indispensable standard reference
for anyone without access to Korean
language sources. It covers the entire
range of Korean music that has been
documented, from the post-colonial period
to very recent times. It covers what
has been retained of ancient Court ritual,
and folk music, popular crossover and
modern contemporary music. There's even
a reference to the famous and exceedingly
cute Little Angels children's
dance and song troupe!

Nowhere else will a
reader find so much detail. Extensive
biographies, discographies and lists
of performance are given. The bibliography,
as far as I can tell, not being literate
in Korean, is enormous. There are numerous
musical examples, some in non-western
notation, which is important because
ethnographic material needs to be expressed
in its own terms. Anyone wanting to
investigate Korean music needs this
as a handbook. It's excellent as a source
material and reference work. There are
two CDs, one with each volume, to give
examples of the music being described.

The author, Keith Howard,
lived in Korea for many years, speaks
the language fluently, and has had personal
access to many of the musicians and
performers referred to. Thus the book
itself is a valuable first-hand document
of a fast changing situation. Howard
teaches at SOAS, and students of Korean
music will find this a valuable text-book,
to which they will refer again and again.
Nonetheless, these are volumes which
pre-suppose an extensive background
knowledge of Korean history and society.
A decent grounding in Asian studies
helps, but Korea is a unique society,
quite distinct from China and Japan.
These volumes document thoroughly, even
exhaustively, but they leave the more
esoteric questions about cultural identity
unanswered. Perhaps that's a good thing
in a text book, because readers should,
after all, analyse and synthesise for
themselves. There are other perspectives
from which a non-specialist audience
can approach Korean music. Among the
many appendices are lists of Korean
kings and so on, but it would have been
useful to include a summary of modern
Korean society for the more general
reader. Korea is special, but many of
the wider issues in world cultural history
apply. Korean musicians perform all
over the world. Even if what many of
them play is mainstream western classical
music, it is also relevant to appreciate
what their formative influences were.

The first volume describes
the Korean Intangible Cultural Properties
Preservation System, where numerous
art forms are minutely classified into
groups and sub-groups, with individuals
given titles of authority in their particular
line. Creating a Korean identity was
politically imperative after decades
of colonialism, and occupation by foreign
allies during the civil war. It's not
something Howard explores, but it's
important because it shaped the nation's
self-image at a time when it was beset
by many pressures. A comparison with
the Japanese Living Treasures scheme
might also be useful. Nonetheless, you
won't find such detail elsewhere easily.
This system was set up by the national
government so that remaining practitioners
of dying arts could be subsidised so
their speciality would not be lost,
due to modernising commercial pressure.
It's a noble idea, and probably saved
many minor arts like ornamental knotting
and regional folklore from disappearing.
On the other hand, culture is essentially
an amorphous concept. As we know from
efforts to preserve western folk music,
the "folk" themselves don't do things
exactly as their forbears would have
done. Howard wisely refers to studies
in "imagined tradition" and also, valuably,
gives concrete examples. There are limits
to what can, or should be preserved
in perpetuity, given that creative endeavour
can't be fossilised and forced into
formula.

Howard provides excellent
and detailed descriptions of specific
styles of music and practitioners. The
chapter "Preserving the Spirits" intricately
traces the relationship between shamanism
and folk music as ritual, relating it
to the life of farmers in the remote
Chindo area. There are places in the
books where the methodology is unusual,
such as questionnaires handed to concert
goers, but here, Howard is superb. This
chapter alone is worth reading because
it so sensitively evokes the local community's
relationship to its past, and relates
their music to the world they live in.

Society changes, though,
and music adapts. Howard's second volume
deals with the way Korean music adapts
to modernisation, urbanisation and international
influences. The first chapter in the
second volume is titled "Rhythm N' Seoul"
and articulates how the ensemble SamulNori
developed its style, and how it was
received. Then there's a chapter on
how many pop songs derive from older
material, a concept not common in the
west. More significant is the chapter
about traditional forms being recreated
- new music within the original context.
This is a particularly fascinating area
to explore since East Asian music was
handed down by personal contact, rather
than standardised or subject to formal
notation. In China and Japan there are
very early recordings to extrapolate,
loosely and vaguely from. Howard then
contributes a chapter on modern composers
working within the western tradition,
with a Korean background, such as Isang
Yun. Yun's is internationally significant
for he was so closely associated with
western new music. Indeed, his high
profile probably saved his life when
he was arrested by the repressive South
Korean regime. Howard's description
of Yun's Korean roots and his return
to Korean values is well-informed. Not
many who know Yun's work know the Korean
aspects quite so well. Howard is also
good on the Korean aspects of the work
of other composers with an international
profile, such as Younghi Pagh-Paan.
It's interesting that Korean composers
seem to have a closer relationship with
German music rather than French or Russian
styles. Yun learned Lieder in school
and studied with Boris Blacher, himself
raised in Manchuria.

There's so much detail
in this work that it sometimes reads
like a list of names and numbers. It's
important that such information is kept
because it isn't easy to come by, but
a more general reader might want to
start with an immersion in East Asian
cultural history and stand back after
reading to let a wider perspective fall
into place.

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